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Wednesday, 14 November 2012

ABC Some More Maori Thoughts

A. Maori Magic can define the rest of our season

The Maori match was an historic occasion and a great match;
it was well worth my £20 and well worth whatever the club paid them to appear.But more than that it can now be referred to
as a focal point for two very different styles of Rugby football.Our rucking was a world apart, the modern
ruck was invented in Otago but Louis Deacon and co. brought it to a new level
against its inheritants.I can’t
remember too many Heineken Cup matches fought with such intensity at the
breakdown and this match could be a powerful aide memoir when the heat comes
on, whether that is away to Ospyres, at home to Toulouse or hopefully beyond,
we can now summon up the spirit of this match to know deep down in the seat of
your pants that we CAN go the extra mile.

And also we must look at some of the Maori play and draw
inspiration from it.Their ball retention
was very good and the support work was magnificent.If we can get our forwards in particular flooding
the channel looking for the quick pass we could become an attacking
juggernaut.Pat Howard’s team was
probably the best Tigers side at this and it is where some of the top teams like
Leinster and Quins have the wood on us.

B. Balmain proves doubters wrong.

Fraser Balmain’s debut must have prompted some red faces in
Newcastle.The ex RGS pupil was branded “nothing
more than a good local player” and not even offered a contract when he finished
school 3 years ago.Thankfully Tigers
scouts had more about them and won the battle for his signature with Northampton.It is hard to fathom how any scout could come
to that conclusion after watching him destroy the Maori scrum, it goes to show
your academy is only as strong as your scouts!

C. Tait is great but Niall is the Full back business.

Matt Tait made his first start for 13 months and at the less
than usual position of full back.He
showed what a class player he was with some lovely touches and some ferocious
tackles; but also showed why he isn’t the successor to Geordan Murphy.Letting several balls bounce will be punished
on other occasions and his position for other kicks was poor.The less said about his kicking the better.

You can’t be too hard on a players come back game, but when
the rest of his performance was so good the errors stood out even more.In the second half he switched with his
winger Niall Morris and looked far more comfortable getting stuck in to the
action.These two together could provide
a tandem partnership in the vein of Stimpson and Murphy if they fulfil their
promise.